


Shawn's Inky Son

by phantomthief_fee



Series: Saudade AU Fanworks [5]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Found Family, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Saudade AU, Shawn has decided Grant is his kid and he's not letting him go, The fact that Grant is now a Searcher does not impact this in the slightest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2020-08-20 03:35:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20221129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomthief_fee/pseuds/phantomthief_fee
Summary: The fact that Grant is now an inky zombie in no way dissuades Shawn from deciding he will protect his son.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BornOfFire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BornOfFire/gifts).

[@bornoffireandwisdom](https://tmblr.co/myH-MF-wbGw8vQixb2Vh0zA) requested another story, this time about Shawn taking care of Searcher!Grant.

* * *

Shawn hadn’t really thought about being a father before. He was a bit young for that and besides, he’d never had any sort of relationship where he’d wanted to have children before. He hadn’t had many relationships at all, actually. But then he’d come to Joey Drew Studios and had met Grant Cohen. Now, Grant was by no means a child, but the second Shawn had met him he’d decide that this man was now his son. Shawn wasn’t old enough to be Grant’s father, but he’d decided to take on the role nonetheless. Grant hadn’t particularly minded this. It had been nice to have someone protecting him, especially since he was basically a walking ball of anxiety. 

The fact that Grant was now basically an ink zombie had done nothing to change Shawn’s feelings toward him. Grant was still his son and Shawn was going to take care of him no matter what. This was easier said than done, however. On one hand, Grant’s new inky state meant he couldn’t easily be harmed. On the other hand, Grant now tried to eat literally anything he could find, couldn’t figure out how doors worked, and was unbelievably clumsy. He was basically an inky person-sized puppy. 

The best example of this was the things Grant tried to eat.

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” Shawn muttered to himself. “Spit it out, Grant. Spit it out.” 

“Mm-mm!” Grant shook his head.

“Grant! That’s my shoe! I need it!” Shawn tried to pry the younger man’s mouth open.

The latest thing Grant had decided was food was Shawn’s shoe. His shoes had been drenched after he’d spent the day wading through ink, so he’d taken them off to let them dry out. It wasn’t like he was going to get them clean. Grant had decided this meant they were food.

“Grant, please,” Shawn begged. “I can’t just walk around this place in my socks.” Grant hesitated a bit at Shawn’s tone. Shawn seemed sad and he didn’t like making Shawn sad. 

“I’ll find you something else to eat, okay?” Shawn offered a hopeful smile. “Just, please, let go of my shoe.” Grant made a sound similar to a grumble but let go of the shoe.

“Thank you.” Shawn breathed a sigh of relief. He took the shoe that had been in Grant’s mouth, and the other shoe that was drying, and placed them up high where Grant couldn’t reach. 

“Alright. What do you want to eat?” He asked, turning back to Grant. “And don’t say the shoe.” Grant considered this for a moment, face screwed up in thought. 

“**_So…up…!_**” He finally proclaimed with a big grin.

“Okay.” He could do soup. The studio was literally full of the stuff. 

“Come on then.” He went to the door of Grant’s office. “Let’s go find you some soup.” Grant made an excited sound, oozing over to the door. 

Shawn didn’t let him out of the office too often, mostly out of worry. He knew Grant couldn’t get hurt, but still…Grant in his new state was like a puppy. He didn’t seem to understand how so many things worked, nor could he really take care of himself. It was honestly a bit sad to see Grant in this state. He was a shell of his former self, essentially a mindless creature whose mind was only held together by his vague memories of Shawn. He wasn’t the Grant that Shawn remembered. He wasn’t the Grant that Shawn had known. He was only barely Grant at all.

“Stay close to me,” Shawn said as they started off down the hallway. Grant nodded, keeping pace with Shawn as the toymaker headed for the archives. 

He probably could have used the elevator to search the upper levels for soup, but he didn’t like using it. Tom had always said it was going to end up crashing at some point. Shawn didn’t particularly fancy being the one the elevator took down with it. Not to mention, Joey tended to stay on the upper floors. Shawn wasn’t taking any chances when it came to Joey. Grant hadn’t attacked him yet and he wasn’t about to test how far Grant’s fondness for him extended. 

Shawn pressed the books to open the door, ushering Grant through once it was open. 

“You want me to make you something to chew on?” He asked when they reached the GENT machine. “Y’know, while we’re looking for the soup.” This machine made gears, radios, cups, and bones. 

“**_Bo..ne…!_**” Grant nodded excitedly.

“You aren’t turning into Boris on me, are you?” Shawn laughed to himself before going to get the ink from the Searcher in the pipe. Grant waited patiently by the machine. He was just excited to be out of the office with Shawn. He **could** leave the office by himself, and sometimes he did, but mostly he stayed with Shawn. Shawn was nice and made him feel warm and protected. 

“Alright, here we go.” Shawn returned, shoving the glob of ink into the machine. He turned the dial to bone and spun the crank. A moment later, a glob of ink shot out, quickly forming into a bone. Grant made a happy sound, picking it up and putting it in his mouth. Shawn still wasn’t sure how Grant, or any Searcher for that matter, chewed things. They didn’t have teeth.

“Do you wanna stay here while I get the soup?” Shawn asked. “I know the trolley ride can be a bit…hectic.” Grant tilted his head to the side, bone in his mouth. He liked the trolley rides. They were fun. Why would Shawn not want him to come along for them?

“I just mean…You nearly fall out a lot.” Shawn continued, rubbing the back of his head. “We don’t know what’s down there.” He gestured to the abyss spanning between the two cliff shelves. “I don’t want to lose you.” Even Grant couldn’t miss how Shawn’s voice broke on the last sentence. 

“**_You…okay…?_**” Grant asked. He didn’t like it when Shawn got sad. Shawn was always so nice to him. He got him food, he let him chew on his shoe sometimes. He didn’t want Shawn to be sad. Shawn deserved to be happy.

“I’m fine.” Shawn put on a smile he hoped was convincing. “I just worry about you, that’s all.”

“**_Wor…ry…about…you…too…,_**” Grant said. “**_Do…n’t…go…a…lone…_**” He oozed over to put a hand on Shawn’s. It was hard to convey emotion when your features were ink, but Grant was managing it pretty well. His concerned expression was pretty adorable, though. Shawn let out a small snort of laughter. 

“Thanks.” He patted Grant’s head. “I guess we’re going across together, then?” Grant nodded, holding up his arms. Shawn dutifully picked him up, carrying him to the trolley and getting in. Once both were inside, the trolley started toward the other side of the line. Grant stayed as still as he could, not wanting to worry Shawn. This, however, had the opposite effect. 

“You alright?” Shawn asked as he set Grant down on the other side. “You were all stiff and weird.”

“**_Did…n’t wa…nt…to..wor….ry you…_**” Grant explained. Shawn felt a familiar tug at his heart. 

_“Why didn’t you tell me you sprained your wrist?! You can’t just keep working like that! You’ll make it worse!”  
_

_“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to worry you.”_

“I appreciate it.” Shawn patted his head. “But you don’t need to get all weird like that.”

“_**O…kay…**_”

“Let’s go find you some soup now.”

Grant ended up having to wait on the landing because stairs were not something that Searchers could do. Shawn promised he wouldn’t go far and left Grant to chew on his bone and an empty soup can he’d found. He kept checking over his shoulder though to make sure Grant was still there. The stairs went in a circle, so he could still see Grant no matter how high he went. 

“That angel better not start getting lippy.” He muttered to himself. There had been a few times when they’d come here when Alice had come over the speakers to be a nuisance. She’d taunted him with the fact that the Grant he knew was gone, buried under endless layers of ink and the hivemind Joey had put in place. He knew, logically, that Susie was just lashing out in an attempt to ease her own pain. That hadn’t stopped him from using quite a lot of language that was hardly family-friendly.

“I know he’s not the same.” He murmured, plucking the cans from the shelves. “But he’s still my boy. I’m not just gonna abandon him.” Searcher or not, Shawn was still his son. Adoptive son. He bit his lip to stop himself from crying. Grant was still there. Maybe he wasn’t the same, but he was there. 

He took a moment to compose himself before returning to Grant. He almost dropped the cans when he saw Grant, stifling a bout of laughter. Grant had managed to find **another **shoe, God knows where, and was chewing on it like a puppy. 

“Where on Earth did you get that?” Shawn snorted, putting the cans down in front of him.

“**_Se…cret…_**” Grant smiled mischievously. 

Shawn put his hands up. “Alright. Keep your secrets. I got the soup.”

Grant immediately tossed the shoe aside, grabbing a soup can and starting to chew on it. Shawn tried to stifle his laughter once more. 

“You sure you don’t want me to get you a can opener or something?” He asked in between giggles. “It might help you get at the soup.”

“**_This…fine…_**” Grant insisted, continuing to gnaw at the metal. 

“Okay. Suit yourself.” Shawn sat down opposite him. “**I’m** gonna open my can.” He wasn’t going to abandon Grant, no matter what anyone else in the studio told him. Grant was family. You didn’t abandon family.


	2. Chapter 2

As happy as Shawn was to have Grant with him, surviving in the studio was still hard. Scavenging for food was difficult, especially with the roaming bands of Searchers. Grant could protect Shawn when there were just a few Searchers, but large groups tended to overwhelm his own will with the Searcher hivemind. It might have been easier if Shawn had just left him in the office. Shawn wasn’t going to leave him alone, though. Grant got sad and panicky when he was alone for too long, always worried that something had happened to Shawn. It made them both feel better to be together. 

Although, Shawn’s steadfast determination to keep Grant with him…Often ended up putting him in danger. Just as it had this day.

Shawn was getting ready to go on another supply run. He’d just about run out of bacon soup, which was pretty much the only thing in the studio to eat.

“Alright, ready for another adventure?” He asked, slipping on his bag and picking up the pipe he most often used as a weapon. Grant immediately perked up, rising out of the puddle he’d been in. 

“**_Whe…re?_**” He trailed after Shawn to the elevator. 

“Probably just the Heavenly Toys area or level P,” Shawn said. “Wouldn’t want to run into _Alice_ or **_Drew_**.” He spat their names as though they were poison.

“**_Bad…_**” Grant agreed, screwing his face up. Joey’s name didn’t draw up good memories for him. Joey didn’t draw up good memories for anyone, really. And Alice was just mean. 

“Exactly.” Shawn nodded, pressing the button for Level K. In addition to looking for bacon soup, he also wanted to collect a few of his unfinished plushes. It got boring sitting in that office all day. He needed something to occupy his time. Grant was more than happy to just chew on a bone or a shoe, so he didn’t need all that much entertainment. 

The elevator began to lurch upwards with a sickening creak, which made Shawn tense. Shawn hated using the elevator. Tom had been right about it being unreliable. Even when the studio had been working, the elevator had always had mechanical issues. And now that the mechanics had been turned into ink creatures…Well, the elevator wasn’t really getting any maintenance anymore. 

But the elevator was enclosed and much safer than just trudging up the stairs, where they could encounter rogue Searchers or Butcher Gang clones. It was easier to haul big things in the elevator as well. Besides, it wasn’t like Grant could use stairs. If Shawn wanted to keep Grant with him, he had to use the elevator. And he did want to keep Grant with him.

Suddenly, the speakers in the elevator crackled to life, and to Shawn’s horror, a familiar voice spoke through them. 

“Well well well, hello, Mr. Flynn. I’m surprised to see you out of your little hidey-hole.”

“I’m not in the mood, Alice,” Shawn growled. He knew better than to call her Susie. Doing that would result in a meltdown of epic proportions from her.

“Oh, but I think you are,” she purred. The elevator shrieked to a stop. She’d been kind enough to stop them between floors, so there was no danger of them getting attacked. But she still had a captive audience. Grant squeaked, hugging Shawn’s leg.

“**_Sca…ry…_**” He whimpered.

“It’s okay,” Shawn whispered. “It’s gonna be okay.”

“Aaaw. You’re talking to it like it’s still a person,” Alice cooed, her voice cloying sweet. “That’s cute.”

“He **is** still a person,” Shawn snapped. 

“Are you sure?” Alice asked innocently. “Are you absolutely certain that the creature beside you is still Grant Cohen?”

“Of course, I am.” Shawn instinctively pulled Grant closer. Grant let out another whimper. He didn’t like the tone in Alice’s voice. 

“And what makes you so sure exactly?” Alice asked. “That it can mimic speech? That it ‘knows’ your name?”

“I’m serious, Alice. I’m not in the mood.” Shawn felt his heartbeat beginning to speed up. He didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t want Alice to give voice to all the fears that lurked in the back of his mind. 

“Grant Cohen is dead, Mr. Flynn,” Alice continued with malicious glee. “I imagine you watched him die, didn’t you?”

“Stop it!”

“That thing next to you is nothing but a sentient pile of ink. Maybe a reanimated corpse if I’m being generous. Certainly not Grant Cohen, though. Not anymore.”

“Stop talking!” Shawn roared, covering his ears. 

Grant pressed closer to Shawn, starting to get concerned. Why was Shawn getting so upset? What was Alice saying? He could hear her voice, but her words were indistinct and muffled. She had such a lovely voice, but it sounded…cruel.

“It’s hardly healthy to be galavanting around with a corpse, Mr. Flynn,” Alice cooed. “Especially when you’re pretending it’s still the person you know. They make horror moves about that sort of thing.”

“Shut up! Shut up shut up shut up!” Shawn screamed. Grant whimpered, hugging Shawn’s leg. He didn’t like this. He didn’t like seeing Shawn so upset. 

“It might even be Joey stringing you along. Have you considered that?” Alice asked. “He controls all the ink, after all. He could just be luring you into a false sense of security so that it will be even more wonderful for him when he finally destroys you.”

Unfortunately for Alice, this didn’t have the effect she’d hoped. Instead of yelling or blowing up, Shawn slowly lowered his hands and smirked at the camera she was watching through. 

“It’s been months,” He snorted derisively. “Joey’s impulse control isn’t that good.” The thought had crossed his mind before, that this was just Joey stringing him along. But there was no way Joey would wait this long. If it really was Joey puppeting Grant, he would have pounced far sooner. Delayed gratification wasn’t something that Joey was at all a fan of. He’d been a nightmare to work for, certainly, unable to wait for anything. 

Alice was silent because she knew Shawn was right. Joey would never have waited this long. Perhaps that hadn’t been the best path to take. She’d been doing so well. Suggesting Joey’s involvement had been a misstep. 

“Maybe I was wrong about that,” she finally said, her voice soft as silk. “But I’m right about the rest. That thing is not Grant Cohen. Grant Cohen is dead. You can play house with it for as long as you like, but eventually, it’s going to end up killing you.”

“He’s not going to kill me.” Shawn narrowed his eyes at her, but she could tell she’d hit a nerve by the way his jaw clenched. 

“Maybe it’s fine now, but as soon as you run into more Searchers, it’ll turn on you,” Alice hummed. “Joey’s little hivemind is rather strong, after all. Your pet doesn’t stand a chance against it.”

The speakers crackled off and the elevator began to move once more. Shawn muttered some insult under his breath. 

“**_Ok…ay…?_**” Grant asked, tugging at Shawn’s pant leg. 

“I’m fine. Don’t worry.” Shawn patted his head. He would have preferred not to have that confrontation with Alice, but he could deal with it. It wasn’t like she could actually **do** anything to him. They all knew she didn’t leave her level. All she could do was play mind games. 

“Alright, here we are,” he said as the elevator reached level K. Grant made a happy noise, oozing out. That happy noise trailed off as he noticed the stairs leading up to the Heavenly Toys area. 

“Oh shoot.” Shawn grimaced. “Sorry, forgot about those stairs.” 

Internally, he was beating himself up. How had he forgotten about the stairs?! He’d worked here for years! He’d have to leave Grant to get the soup and plushes from his workshop. If he left Grant, he’d be unprotected. But Grant would also be unprotected and susceptible to being dragged into Joey’s hive mind. He **could** try carrying Grant, but that would occupy both his hands and leave him unable to defend himself. There was also the possibility of the ink soaking through his shirt sleeves or getting on his bare forearms. He **had** to leave Grant there.

Grant whined, clinging to Shawn’s leg. He knew Shawn would likely go off on his own. It was dangerous for Shawn to be alone. He could get attacked when he was alone. Grant needed to be with him to protect him. 

“I’ll only be a bit,” Shawn tried to reassure him. 

“**_Not..sa..fe…_**” Grant said. 

“I know. But I’ll be quick.” Shawn crouched down so he was eye level with Grant, patting his head with a gloved hand. He always wore gloves when touching Grant.

Grant whimpered again but still allowed Shawn to move away. He watched as Shawn climbed the stairs and disappeared into the Heavenly Toys area. Grant began to pace the little area next to the elevator, or do the closest thing he could to pacing without legs. He could feel other Searchers nearby. If they got close, he’d be overwhelmed by their influence. Then he’d probably end up hurting Shawn. He didn’t want that to happen. Shawn was his best friend. 

He kept pacing and worrying until Shawn returned, bag full of soup and a few unfinished plush projects.

“See? I told you it would be fine,” Shawn said. Just as the door to the stairs burst open. 

Shawn froze, his breath catching in his throat. There stood Sammy Lawrence, stumbling forward on legs almost completely consumed by the ink, flanked by several other Searchers in various stages of losing themselves to the ink. The Searchers stopped as they caught sight of him. Shawn’s eyes flicked from the Searchers to the elevator. Searchers moved slowly, so he could probably get to the elevator in time. Sammy was a bit of a wild-card, though.

“**_Ru…n…_**” Grant rasped, beginning to shake. “**_Wa…nna…hur…t…_**” He could feel the urge to attack Shawn rising up again. This always happened when other Searchers appeared. 

Sammy opened his mouth, a low growl coming out as he took a step toward Shawn. The Searchers stayed behind him, seemingly waiting for the signal to attack. Shawn’s heart pounded in his ears. He’d had close calls before, it was part of surviving in the studio, but he hadn’t come face to face with Sammy since the day of the outbreak. It was horrifying to see how Sammy had degraded. Sammy still looked mostly human. The ink had consumed parts of his body, yes, but his body wasn’t amorphous like the other Searchers. Shawn could still see his face, his limbs. It was a sickening sight to see one of his former coworkers reduced to little more than a slavering beast. 

Shawn bolted for the elevator, jabbing the button for level S. 

“Come on come on come on.” He muttered as the doors slid closed and the elevator began to lurch downward.

Most of the Searchers were too slow to catch the elevator, but Sammy moved quickly. He slammed against the door, reaching through the slats and yelling. Ink dripped from his mouth, spraying toward Shawn as Sammy yelled. 

“Hey! Get back!” Shawn swung at Sammy’s arms with his pipe. Thankfully, Sammy recoiled from the blows, groaning in pain. 

“I’ll catch up with you, Grant!” Shawn called out as the elevator descended out of sight. He just hoped Grant would be able to shake off the hivemind. He didn’t like leaving Grant on his own like that, but he didn’t have a choice. He didn’t want to get infected. Grant could take care of himself, right?

…._Right?_


End file.
